Mario Camilleri Snr and Mario Camilleri Jnr.Mario Camilleri Snr and Mario Camilleri Jnr.

One of the accused in the murders of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, known as l-Imniehru, and his son Mario Jnr, was thrown out of the courtroom today by Magistrate Anthonio Micallef Trigona.

Mr Camilleri Snr was killed in Marsaxlokk last year while his 21-year-old son Mario Jnr was shot and stabbed 34 times in Qajjenza, Birżebbuġa, shortly afterwards.

They were found partly buried in a shallow grave at a field in Qajjenza.

Jason Galea, the accused who was thrown out of the courtroom this morning, is the brother-in-law and uncle of Mr Camilleri Snr and Mr Camilleri Jnr, respectively.

He is being charged of the murders together with George Galea, a security guard from St Julian's.

Today’s hearing heated up with the appearance in court of Alfredo Attard, a prosecution witness, who allegedly helped hide and bury the bodies.

In previous sittings, the defence called on the police to bring Mr Attard in to testify but the prosecution had argued that he was terminally ill and could not be brought to court, by doctors’ orders.

In court this morning, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said that Mr Attard had been placed under a witness protection programme.

Defence lawyers Joe Giglio (for Jason Galea) and Giannella de Marco (for George Galea) asked what this programme consisted of and Inspector Pullicino said the Attorney General had been informed that Mr Attard, a very important witness, was terminally ill and could die very soon.

He said the relevant articles of the law were invoked for Mr Attard to testify freely and without fear of prosecution.

He noted that he would have been charged with offering services as an undertaker without the proper permits and of hiding a body.

At one point, Dr Giglio got very angry and pointed out that the articles of the law referred to had come into force in March. He asked if they had been specifically enacted to accommodate Mr Attard and sarcastically asked if this amounted a pardon.

This statement led the accused, Jason Galea, to raise his voice to also ask if this was a pardon.

The magistrate threatened to throw him out of the courtroom to which Mr Galea retorted that he was the accused. It was at this point Magistrate Micallef Trigona threw him out.

As he was leaving, accompanied by escorting officers, Mr Galea called Inspector Pullicino a liar and a clown.

Insp. Pullicino asked for action to be taken against Mr Galea over the disparaging personal remarks made about him.

Dr Giglio told the inspector to keep this in perspective and asked whether any action had been taken over the paint thrown on the façade of his client’s home this morning.

In an angry tone, Dr Giglio then asked if this was how the State was run by the new administration, with laws being created to accommodate certain people.

He said that for 13 months, the defence team had been told that Mr Attard could not be brought in to testify, and meanwhile underhanded measures were being taken.

The magistrate remarked that the lawyers could find a way through this problem and Dr Giglio replied that this was what they were trying to do.

The case continues on Tuesday.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.